Amin Abbas
DUBAI: Yahya Danboos is an Iraqi who has been living in Japan for the past nine years and has a decade of experience in the game industry. He recently created an Arab-themed video game inspired by the Japanese video game ‘Kingdom Hearts’ titled ‘Luminous Nights’.
Danboos has been fascinated with video games since childhood, driven by the immersive experiences they offer. This passion led him to explore how games are made, starting with modding Little Fighter 2, where he first experimented with altering game data to change character appearances and behaviors. This initial experience ignited a lifelong journey of learning that eventually allowed him to create entire games on his own.
After 10 years in the industry, Danboos decided to pursue a dream that he had since childhood: creating a game inspired by his favorite video game, ‘Kingdom Hearts’. The game combined his love for Disney and the Japanese video game franchise ‘Final Fantasy’. He began working on the game two years ago and decided that it would be themed around his Arab heritage.
This decision was driven by a desire to share his culture with the world and introduce it to those who may not be familiar with it; therefore, Luminous Nights was born. One of his key focuses is to craft a story that is authentically Arabic, written first and foremost in Arabic, to ensure that it remains true to its roots.
Pluvias, Iraqi comic series artist and Danboos’ wife, was the creative director of the project. The artist brings over a decade of experience in the creative arts, including her popular webtoon, Entwined.
Throughout the development process, he has been sharing his progress through YouTube, which has helped him build a small but dedicated community around the game. He is deeply grateful to each and every member of this community; without them, this project would be far more challenging.
Recently, he showcased the game at Japan’s largest indie game convention, BitSummit. He mentioned that it was incredibly rewarding to see how well the Arabian theme resonated with players, and the feedback they received was invaluable in refining the game further.
The game will be available on Steam soon.